May 3, 2018 500 AM
PRESIDIO – Presidio school board members meeting Wednesday evening unanimously selected Assistant Superintendent Ray Vasquez of Brownfield ISD as the lone finalist for superintendent.
Vasquez will come on board for the 2019 school year.
“I am very pleased by the quality of candidates who applied and, with the board’s selection, I believe he will lead the district forward and help it build on what we have accomplished,” said Superintendent Dennis McEntire, who is retiring after a long and successful career at Presidio ISD.
In a telephone interview from Brownfield, Vasquez said the appointment will not be official until May 16, after the state-mandated 21-day waiting period ends. But he said he is “excited about the opportunity to come to Presidio. It is a great staff and a great community.”
He said Presidio is known for its “great student academic achievement, for sure,” and for their extra-curricular activities.
Vasquez said he is in his fifth year as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in his home town, which he returned to after 30 years to take the position.
He said he was “born and raised in Brownfield and I never thought I’d come back.”
He is completing his 25th year in education after getting a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech and his Master’s and Superintendent certification at Lubbock Christian University.
Vasquez said he had “heard good things about Presidio’s students.”
For his superintendent certification, he took a finance class from former Presidio Superintendent Dr. Doug Karr, who told him Presidio was “a great place to work and to work with the community and the students.”
Vasquez’s wife will join him in Presidio as an instructional specialist. He also has three grown children.
McEntire said the appointment will not be official until May 16 when the board will vote on it.
“It’s an open-ended issue for what the board will tell me when they think it’s time,” he said. “We’ve gone through this very methodically, very carefully. We’re in a situation where we have the luxury of a very calm, smooth transition.”
McEntire said that is something that does not always happen.
He said he will stay on after Vasquez arrives to help with the transition.
“I feel Mr. Vasquez can take the district to next level,” McEntire said. “Everyone is looking forward to it.”
